I was born and raised in the inner city of Chicago, Illinois. I had a normal childhood, and it was in my school years that I truly took an interest in health and wellness. In my early 20s, I worked as a pharm tech at a physician’s office. I worked at the Illinois Eye Bank to harvest donated eyes to be used for cornea transplant. I also worked at the Kidney Bank.

I first began seeing patients at my private wellness clinic in Schaumburg, Illinois, in 1985. I was a sole practitioner. It was filled with routine checkups, school physical exams, and seeing chronically ill patients. I was prescribing drugs, but realized that they were not working.

I began exploring the world of natural medicine in the early 1990s. After seeing drastic improvements when my patients modified their diet and became more physically active, I changed the way I practiced medicine.

My passion is to transform the traditional medical paradigm in the United States, and that consumes most of my free time. For 40 years since 1968, I was an active runner; I completed the Chicago Marathon in just over three hours, among other accomplishments. I have also been a computer hobbyist since 1985, with an interest in the internet that dates back to the early ‘90s.

My primary audience consists of people who are seeking to improve or maintain their state of health: homemakers, professionals, students, health care experts and anyone struggling with a health issue who is seeking alternatives to conventional health methods.

Through Mercola.com, I aim to create a harmonious community of educated and open-minded individuals who, like me, are determined to change the modern health paradigm. Hence, I work with a well-trained editorial team to ensure that Mercola.com only provides unbiased and groundbreaking content that is evidence-based and free of external influence.

The existing medical establishment is responsible for killing and permanently injuring millions of Americans, but the surging numbers of visitors to Mercola.com since I began the site in 1997 — we are now routinely among the top 10 health sites on the internet — convinces me that you, too, are fed up with their deception. You want practical health solutions without the hype, and that's what I offer.